Makin Bacon - I hope !


 
Sheila Cochran

Sheila Cochran

TVWBB Fan
Thanks to everyone for freely giving up their secrets, tips, and tricks. If it wasn't for this community of such great folks, I wouldn't be anywhere near as successful as I am with backyard BBQ. Every day I learn something from reading comments on this board, and I gain tremendous confidence knowing that I can reach out for advice at any hour of any day.

After reading the "Bacon Made Easy" thread, I decided to throw my hat into the ring. Searched for, and finally found a source for pork belly - tossed in deep freeze while I gathered everything I was going to need for this new adventure (2 gal bags, MTQ, and meat SLICER). Actually, I've been accused to attempting bacon JUST to justify the meat slicer purchase. *busted* :)

I did follow the steps in the thread mentioned above, and today is day 8. EARLY this morning I rinsed and then soaked the cured meat for an hour and half, changing the water every 30 minutes. Did a test fry, and its pretty darn good. Can't wait to get it on the smoker Saturday! I got up early so I could have the pork in the drying stage before I go into the office. Note to self: retire asap.

Here's the 6.5 lb belly, sectioned in half - one cured with an addition of brown sugar the other with cracked pepper (more pepper added after blotting dry just before putting back in fridge). GAME ON!

Next question is: do I put this fat up or fat down on the smoker Saturday, or does it even matter? More pics to follow...

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Peace, Love, and BBQ
 
Looks fantastic! It really shouldn't matter as to up down or even sidewise. The whole idea of smoking the bacon is not to be at a temp. that is going to render any fat. Looking forward to the results!
 
Thanks for the responses Marc & Tbow. I'll get the belly on the smoker tomorrow before noon, at least that's the plan! Tonight is a bit windy and threatening rain, however tomorrows forecast looks perfect!
 
Alright, I've spent the last week preparing for today...everyone I work with has been subjected to my daily updates of ProjectPorkBelly - including my nephew who also works in my branch. Everyone knows the belly hits the smoker today. I just received this in an instant message from my nephew, with the caption "BACON". Think he's as excited as I am with my little project:

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Of course, I immediately IM'd him back letting him know that I expect one of these t-shirts for Christmas. :) It is available on Woot, by the way. :)
 
Pulled the bacon after 4.5 hours. They look good, but I'm worried too much smoke :confused: I used 3 smaller size chunks of apple, but they sure smell STRONG.

Right now I have them sealed up and in ice water, getting ready for a couple hour freeze before slicing.

The brown-sugar slab after smoking:

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And the cracked-pepper slab:

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Sheila, they look fantastic, I'm another that needs to try to make some Bacon.
So what kind of slicer did you get? That's a great excuse I'd like to steal.....
 
I bought the Chefs Choice slicer. It did a fine job of slicing the bacon, pretty easy to clean up too. I'm very pleased with it.

The bacon, on the other hand, is WAY too smokey. I cooked up a sampling of it and I'm afraid it turned ... it had an "off", rancid smell when I was frying it - no bacon smell at all. I'm afraid to eat it. The pepper slab is still in the freezer. Decided I didn't want to mess with bacon any more today. While this wasn't hard to do, it was time consuming (and fridge consuming). I'm incredibly disappointed. :(
 
Sheila,
I'm very sorry to hear of your disappointment with the bacon, it looks perfect.
One of the main reasons I like to make my own is for the smokiness.
I love the smell when it hits the fry pan.
But the amount of smoke can be varied to taste.

Did you by chance have the top vents mostly closed?
If so, this can cause creosote to form, which would explain the over-smoked, rancid smell.

I don't see how it can actually be spoiled, I would slice off some of the outside, and try frying it.

To compare color, here is a pic of the last slab I made.

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looks OUTSTANDING Sheila!!
I am positive the bacon is safe to eet... as Bob suggested, slice some up and fry the pig...
think you'll like it.

I use way more wood than you did... I use apple and hickory, and like Bob, I like a lot of smoke on my bacon too.
everyone I gave my bacon to is asking for more...
 
If you think it's too smoky, let it rest for a day or two before you try it again.

If it's still too strong, you're going to need some dry ice and a cooler. Next step: ship it to me.
 
Fresh smoked bacon is quite often too strong when it comes to smoke taste. My bacon needs a week or so in the freezer before the nice baconey smoky taste is right. Right off the smoker, it can taste of burnt wood, and quite bitter. Give it a rest, or you can freeze it. The smoke taste changes just the same.
 
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I hope this turns out to you liking, Sheila. You put a lot of time in... Thanks for sharing and give us an update next week :)
 
Thanks everyone for your comments and support. Not ignoring y'all today, I spent the day in southern Indiana visiting with my awesome mom and dad .. just got back home!

Last night I wrapped the bacon after slicing and just tossed it in my little freezer, this morning I double-bagged it and put it in the deep freeze. I *think* the smoke intensity diminished a bit overnight - so I'll go ahead and get the peppered slab sliced up tomorrow - will let it ALL sit in deep freeze for a week or two and then do another test fry.

I am still concerned with the brown-sugar slab, I failed to get the ziploc bag completely closed when brining and lost a significant amount of liquid on day 1 of the cure. So the 'seed was planted' in my head that the slab could/would spoil if enough of the cure had seeped out of the bag. And then the strange rancid smell when I test fried, and tasted....couple chews and had to spit it out. Plus, the oil when frying was very 'thick', not like I'm used to seeing with store-bought bacon, is that normal? Thick like, um, motor oil. Bad analogy, but can't think of how else to describe it.

Jim, your posts on the slicer you use along with reviews on Amazon convinced me to buy the Chefs Choice slicer - I *LOVE* it, so if nothing else, I've got a really nice new kitchen tool as a result of my bacon project :) And I did see the photo you posted on one of your bacon cooks, showing the amount of wood you used with the snake method. I used alot less than you did. Thats what has me so confused!!

And Jon, you crack me up. Dry-ice, cooler, and ship to you lol.

Its issues and questions like these that I wish we all lived closer to each other so the mentoring could be done face-to-face! But this forum is the absolute next best thing!! Really appreciate you all !!

I'll most likely try bacon again, however this batch turns out. I have alot of MTQ left over! ;)
 
Dag-gum Gooooood

BACON !! I waited a week and then pulled out a package of the sliced brown sugar slab and baked up 12 slices tonight. Here's what it looked like when done ..er...tad over done. :)

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The 'funky' or rancid taste was GONE, nothing left but good smokey BACON flavor. I did mess up when slicing I think, the bacon is tough but it is very tasty!! I read somewhere to slice against the grain, but I couldn't "see" a difference in the grain from the short ends compared to the longer ends. I wound up slicing horizontally (picture belly on the pig)..I sliced from top to bottom. Should I have sliced from head to tail direction?

Thanks everyone for your encouragement! I'm so glad I heeded your advice...definitely not too much smoke after sitting a week in freezer. :) I'm a very happy camper right now! Plus, I have 4 butts on the WSM getting all skippy, preparing for a church gathering tomorrow - keeping my bbq'ing mojo going here in Indy !!

Peace and Love, y'all
 
I think your bacon looks Perfect Sheila!
and I would think slicing from top to bottom would be slicing against the grain...
I just bought this ▼ yesterday

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it is now sliced in thirds...

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These two ▲ are vacuum sealed for the freezer... this one ▼ is going in the fridge to smoke next weekend

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when times comes to slice this portion, I would slice from left to right (top of pig to bottom).
does that makes sense? does that sound correct?
 
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